Erin Sweeney Comments on Significance of King v. Burwell in Law360

"Attorneys React to Supreme Court's ACA Save"

Law360

06.26.15Erin Sweeney commented on the significance of the Supreme Court's ruling in King v. Burwell. "'Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,' Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision upholding the government's position," Sweeney said. "Roberts used sweeping and dramatic language throughout the opinion, referring to the premium tax credit issue as 'a question of deep "economic and political significance"' and as one of those 'extraordinary cases' where the court will not presume that Congress delegated its interpretive authority to a federal agency. After noting that the statute contains 'interlocking reforms' that are 'closely intertwined,' Roberts concluded that '[w]e cannot interpret federal statutes to negate their own stated purposes,'" she said.